World Series notebook: Bad dream for Tito

Indians manager Terry Francona admitted he had a nightmare after Tuesday’s game that somebody was breaking his ribs.

“I woke up and my ribs hurt,” he said before Wednesday’s game. “I kind of got scared. And I felt there (his ribs) and … the TV remote was stuck in my rib cage. Evidently, I had slept on it for a couple hours. I got up to go to the bathroom and, I mean, it hurt. It’s not easy being manager. My bedroom looked like a national disaster last night. I’m going to have to change a few habits when we’re done here.”

Although Francona tries to swim every day, his eating habits are comically bad. He ate $44 worth of ice cream at 3:30 a.m. before Game 5 and fell asleep eating peanut butter and pretzels in bed after Game 6.

“I had peanut butter on my glasses, too,” he said, laughing. “I go straight home and I hit the bed and everything’s laid out next to me. And I fell asleep at some point while eating. I wake up sometimes in the middle of the night and I’ll just reach over and grab something. It’s unfortunate, but it’s true.”

One thing he didn’t eat before Game 7? Ice cream.

“I’ve had enough ice cream,” he said. “I can’t look at ice cream for a while. Some company (Pierre’s) brought some in here the other day. I told them to take it into the kitchen because I really don’t have a yearning for that right now.

“You know what happens? I don’t eat during the day. Like, what is it? It’s 5 o’clock. I haven’t eaten yet. I just either forgot or whatever. I just got busy. So, normally, when the game starts, I’ll think, ‘OK, you know what? I’ll have a salad tonight.’ By the seventh inning, I’m like, ‘Man, I want everything greasy I can find.’ Then it just escalates from there.”

Keeping things light

In case you couldn’t tell, Francona’s pre-game press conference stayed pretty light. Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy got things off on the right foot when, on the conference’s third question, he deadpanned, “Would you call this a must-win game?”

Francona, who knows Shaughnessy well from his Red Sox days, nearly fell out of his chair laughing.

“Boy, I never would have thought I’d see the day you brought levity to my day,” Francona said.

Sound sleeper

Unlike Francona, Cubs manager Joe Maddon had a good night’s sleep before Game 7. Interresting, Francona and Maddon both said they fell asleep watching political coverage on TV.

“I’m a good sleeper, man,” Maddon said. “Fell asleep watching more about the election. In the beginning, I couldn’t get enough of it, then I wanted to get away from it, now it’s becoming I’ve got to listen again. I don’t watch the sports stuff. I watch the news, and that’s how I pass out.”

Seller’s market

Two hours before the game, you could buy standing-room-only tickets for about $800 on StubHub. Tickets behind the plate were close to $2,500 and bleacher seats were a little more than $1,000. A few sellers were even asking for $10,000 a ticket, with much of StubHub’s business coming from Cubs fans.

When asked about having so many Chicago fans at Progressive Field, Francona said, “Oh, I don’t care who buys tickets. I mean, this place is going to be rocking. They might have more money than us. Their suburbs might be a little wealthier than ours. That’s not going to have anything to do with the outcome of the game.”

No time to wait

Rookie outfielder Tyler Naquin has been in the starting lineup regularly against right-handed pitchers, and Francona doesn’t like to deviate from the norm. But Wednesday was Game 7 of the World Series, and the normally loyal-to-a-fault Francona had to make a change after what he saw from Naquin in Game 6. So he inserted right-handed hitting Rajai Davis in center field and batted him seventh against Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks.

Naquin failed to take charge on a shallow fly ball in the right-center gap Tuesday and it fell between him and Lonnie Chisenhall for what turned into a two-run double for Addison Russell. Naquin also struck out with two outs and the bases loaded in the fourth inning, a situation that probably represented the Indians’ best chance to rally.

“I thought Naq was pressing, which during the regular season is something you can maybe send him back out there and let him play through it,” Francona said before Game 7. “I mean, tonight’s our last game, and with Kluber pitching, (we) wanted to make sure we had a team on the field … (that) should catch the ball and play a clean game.”

Naquin entered Game 7 batting .174 in the postseason (4-for-23). His only RBIs of the playoffs had come on his two-run single in Game 3 of the ALDS in Fenway Park.

Nothing like Game 7

Wednesday marked the 38th time a best-of-seven World Series extended to the final game. It is the third Game 7 in the last six years. For the Indians, it was their third winner-take-all Game 7 in their postseason history — their second such game in a World Series. They lost both previous Game 7s (1997 World Series against Marlins and 2007 ALCS against Red Sox). … Francona and Maddon met in a Game 7 in the 2008 ALCS. Maddon’s Tampa Bay Rays beat Francona’s Red Sox 3-1 at Tropicana Field.